Mines in the Queensland city of Mount Isa are known to be Australia’s biggest emitters of several heavy metals, but now there are fresh concerns about their effects on Aboriginal children.

They are recording higher blood lead levels than non-Aboriginal children.

An environmental toxicologist is blaming the mining company Xstrata, but Xstrata says it is doing all it can to reduce emissions.

The western Queensland city sits directly adjacent to the zinc, lead, copper and silver mining operation, proving too close for some residents.

Professor Michael Moore, from the National Research Centre for Environmental Toxicology, says he has been handed figures that were not publicly released about the breakdown between average lead levels in Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal children.

“Of the 403 children tested, 11 per cent had blood lead levels greater than the value of 10 micrograms per litre, which is a figure that NHMRC [National Health and Medical Research Council] used to recommend,” he said.

“The values for the Indigenous children appears to be higher than the values for the non-Indigenous children.”

The latest National Pollutant Inventory, released yesterday, reported Xstrata’s Mount Isa Mines to be Australia’s highest emitter of several substances.

They include lead, arsenic, copper and zinc.

Professor Moore is concerned that it will further disadvantage a part of society already suffering significant problems.

There are no comparable figures yet available for adults.

A ‘critical issue’

It has been known for some years that some Mount Isa residents have higher blood lead levels than recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Queensland Health officials have recently been conducting widespread tests and are currently compiling a report, which is expected to be released next month.

But Professor Moore believes it is already clear where blame lies.

“There’s evidence, immediately, that the cover and the barriers are not adequate,” he said.

But Xstrata’s environmental manager, Ed Turley, says the company takes the health of employees and residents very seriously.

“The people who work in our operation also live in the community, including myself, and it’s our number one priority,” he said.

“Xstrata has become part of a strategic alliance between industry and Government to look at a holistic approach to managing lead in the community.

“From the mine’s side, from our company’s side, we’ve got two major programs already happening, which we expect will have a very positive benefit with regards to emissions, and that is the Whole of Emissions study and the Smelter Emissions project.”

Mr Turley says Xstrata does not have a theory about why Aboriginal children have higher levels of lead in their blood than non-Indigenous children.

“We need to distinguish whether they were Indigenous or non-Indigenous kids. Any child with lead in blood levels higher than the recommended World Health Organisation levels is a critical issue to us,” he said.

Mount Isa is not the only Queensland city sparking concerns about pollution.

A coal terminal at the Gladstone Port in central Queensland has been ranked the worst out of nine terminals worldwide in preventing dust emissions.

“This is not about slack environmental controls at RG Tanna. It’s simply about the type of terminal that we operate, which is a terminal that’s really needed for central Queensland because the range of coals that we have in central Queensland vary significantly,” he said.

The issue is already sensitive in Gladstone, which has an above average rate of chronic lymphoid leukaemia.

Last year, a study found no link between the cancer and coal dust or industrial emissions.